This article triggered a wider and more general look at pressures on school places across Kent and Medway on BBC SE this evening

The problems in both areas have been caused by the failure of appropriate sponsors to come forward to adopt planned new schools. This is happening because of the seriously flawed government Free Schools process, which is now required to deliver all new schools.

Large temporary or permanent expansions of other local schools in these two Districts are now necessary to meet the shortfalls, which will inevitably cause a change of character in them, if indeed they give approval. The independence of academies means that KCC has no power to force them to take additional children, although it is legally responsible for the provision of sufficient places!

Neither District had a single vacancy on allocation of places last March, in spite of Thanet schools managing to creating an additional 71 places to meet requirements, with a further estimated 183 places needed for 2018. New plans for a proposed Free School include a possible temporary base in Deal, 16 miles along the coast from 2019, if other places cannot be found locally for that year.

In Tunbridge Wells, 190 temporary places have been proposed for 2018 if agreed by the schools concerned, with ongoing discussions for subsequent years. Unfortunately, the site for a proposed new Free School in TW has now been lost, and a replacement cannot be delivered until at least 2021, so the future looks very unclear.

Please note, as recorded elsewhere I have retired from offering a full appeals service.

However, I am happy to offer my Telephone Consultation Service for school admission and appeal matters to Kent and Medway families, looking to Kent and Medway non-selective and grammar schools.

If you wish to find out more, please go to the Contact Me page, for further details and complete the form as fully as possible.

I have been working with local families for thirteen years, and so have gathered unrivalled and independent experience and knowledge in the areas described in the pages of this website. In particular, I hope the large amount of free information and advice provided in the Information Section at the top right of this page will answer many potential queries.

For grammar school admissions and appeal advice, I do not provide general background before test results are known, as it becomes too speculative.

This article was written for Kent on Sunday March 7th, but inadvertently not published here until later. My apologies

Kent and Medway secondary allocation figures have been published today, both Kent and Medway figures showing a worrying fall in the proportion of children being awarded any of the four schools (six in Medway) on their secondary school application form, with 641 Kent children and 155 Medway children not getting any school they have chosen. This is a rise of 237 children in Kent, the highest proportion in recent years, totalling 4% of the total being allocated places by KCC. In Medway, there has been an increase in Local Authority allocations in each of the past four years, taking the LA allocation figure to a record 5%.

This article is being updated as fresh information is received. You will find the parallel article on Medway here.

Good news for 13,092 Kent families who have been allocated to their first preference secondary school, at 83.6 %, a slight dip on 2013, but otherwise higher than any other recent year, with, for example, the 2008 figure being just 70.5%. You will find previous outcomes here. Coupled with this is an overall fall in the number of children allocated places by Kent County Council over the same period. These are children who were offered none of their four choices of school. In 2008 there were 840 such children, but by 2014 this has fallen to just 404. Of course this is no consolation to the parents of those 404 children, but over the next few months, through waiting lists, re-allocation and school appeals I am sure the majority of those children who are still seeking an alternative school will find one.

I have now received most of the relevant statistics relating to admissions in Medway. Its press release figures for 2013 entry are: nearly 86% being awarded their first choice; more than 7 per cent their second place preference; and over 2 per cent their third preference. I also collected further information on the infomation relating to individual schools through an FOI , which has enabled me to complete the table below showing comparisons with previous years. I am awaiting another dealing with out of Medway children taking up places in Medway secondary schools. This will enable me to further separate out the data I have.

For 2013 entry, a record 84.2% of Kent children have been offered their first choice of secondary school on allocation, although this still leaves 2390 disappointed to a greater or lesser degree. However, I estimate well over half of these will be offered a higher choice of school through what I call the ’churning’ process. Churning happens as places are freed up by successful appeals elsewhere and children being offered places off waiting lists. Each successful move creates a further space at another school, and so the process trickles down over the summer months, with the least popular schools losing students without replacement.

So what should you do if you are not offered the school of your choice? First piece of advice is - don’t panic and don’t do something you might regret later. There is no advantage in getting your appeal in first so resist the temptation to dash off a letter to the school of your choice which may hinder what you want to say later.........

I am regularly consulted by parents concerned that others are abusing the school admission system, by either fraudulent applications or 'bending' the rules' to gain a place at their preferred school and my advice is always to bring it to the attention of the authorities as they are depriving a child who has a greater right to a place at the school of their choice. This news item has its root in a concern I expressed to Kent County Council in November about the vagueness of the definition of the "child's only or main residence' in the Kent rules, which appears open to wide interpretation and hence manipulation by parents who understandably want their child to go to their preferred school. I wrote an article back in 2010, covering some of the issues which are still current.These issues have been covered by Radio Kent, BBC SE and Meridian today (Friday)........

Westlands School in Sittingbourne, and Hayesbrook School in Tonbridge are the first two Kent schools to take advantage of their academy status by offering additional places in the past few weeks, outside the rules on waiting lists and appeals. We can expect more to follow, taking advantage of there being no sanctions against these actions........

Last week, some 9,000 Kent children took the Kent eleven plus, results due on 18th October. Parents then have less than two weeks until 31 October (a week shorter than last year!) to list four secondary schools in preference order on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF), so early planning is important. Already some secondary schools have held Open Days, and parents should visit all possible schools and ask about the chances of a successful application.

It is impossible to give specific advice on choosing schools in a short article, as the situation varies enormously from town to town and often year by year. My website at www.kentadvice.co.uk provides more information and I plan to expand this shortly.

If your child passes the Kent test, you can name just grammar schools on your SCAF. If you don’t qualify for any of these, you may be offered the nearest grammar school with a vacancy but last year some parents were offered non selective places as there were no other local grammar school places vacant. If your child has passed the eleven plus and you name grammar schools and a non selective school, for example a church comprehensive school, you will be offered the highest school on your list for which you are eligible, whether or not it is a grammar school. If your child has taken the eleven plus and not passed, you must include any grammar on the SCAF you wish to appeal to, but I recommend you include at least one non-selective school. Appeals will not be heard until the summer of Year Six. If your child has not taken the eleven plus, you can only apply for non selective schools. Some schools last year still claimed falsely that parents needed to put the school first on the SCAF to secure a place.

After closing date each school draws up a list of eligible applicants according to their oversubscription rules. They are not told where you listed them on the SCAF or which other schools you applied to, so list schools exactly as you prefer them - there is no way of improving your chances at a school by tactics of choice. The only exception to this is, if going to appeal, you will find the appeal panel is told and may be influenced by the school you have been allocated. There is no advantage in putting just one school on your list.

I strongly recommend you apply on-line so you reliably receive results the day before they are delivered by post. Last year over 79% of Kent parents went online.

On National Offer Day 1st March 2011, your child will be allocated the highest preference school for which they qualify. So some children could get their fourth choice ahead of others who listed it first if their claim is stronger. If you don’t qualify for any school on your list, KCC offers a place at the nearest appropriate school with vacancies.

This is a time when rumours swirl about the playground gates, many of them old wives tales. If in doubt check it out and my best wishes to every family going through what is undoubtedly an extremely stressful process. Remember, over 80% of all families were offered their first choice school in March last year, a figure which will have been much higher after the appeals process was concluded.

* Total figures slightly different from supporting data, reflecting adjustments. Figures relate to place of school attended, rather than place of residence. Allocation figures in March are based on place of residence. You will find the equivalent figures for the September 2012 tests here.

** the in area or "selective areas" are those parts of Kent which were historically served by grammar schools, before freedom of choice legislation removed their significance.

Details of Out of County applications and passes

As in previous years, there has been much hysterical debate in the media about the likely impact of the out of county children who passed the Kent eleven plus. However, as I have forecast previously, the impact is again likely to be much less than other commentators have claimed. The real picture is as follows:

It is proving very difficult to obtain these on a county wide basis with so many academies, Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools now arranging their own appeal panels. As I find this data of limited value, I am no longer collecting it, except for Panels organised by KCC.

Kent 11 Plus Test Results for 2013 EntryThe Kent pass mark is an aggregate of 360 from the three tests, with a requirement for all three scores to be 319 or greater. This standard is chosen to select 21% of all children in the Kent selective areas. Children from the non-selective areas of Kent (served by Angley School, Homewood School, Longfield Academy, Mascall's School, Marsh Academy) and out county candidates have to achieve the same scores. Another 4% of children in the selective areas are added through the headteacher assessment procedure, to bring the total to 25%. The following table shows the outcomes of the test.

boys

girls

total

% boys

% girls

Total %

Living In area

6946

6629

13575

51%

49%

100%

In area who sat test

3861

4080

7941

56%

62%

58%

Automatic Pass

1501

1358

2859

21.6%

20.5%

21.0%

Headteacher Assessment pass

350

474

824

5.0%

7.2%

6.1%

Total In area Passes

1851

1832

3683

26.6%

27.6%

27.1%

Out area who sat test

471

535

1006

Automatic Pass

175

134

309

Headteacher Assessment Pass

29

46

75

Total Out Area Passes

204

160

364

Total Kent Passes*

2055

2012

4072

Out of County Tested

1273

1213

2486

Out of County Automatic Pass

638

603

1241

OOC Headteacher Assessment

55

55

110

OOC HTA Pass

22

22

44

Total OOC Passes*

665

633

1298

11 Plus Test Results for 2012 EntryThe Kent pass mark is an aggregate of 360 from the three tests, with a requirement for all three scores to be 319 or greater. This standard is chosen to select 21% of all children in the Kent selective areas. Children from the non-selective areas of Kent (served by Angley School, Homewood School, Longfield Academy, Mascall's School, Marsh Academy) and out county candidates have to achieve the same scores. Another 4% of children in the selective areas are added through the headteacher assessment procedure, to bring the total to 25%. The following table shows the outcomes of the test. Kent Grammar School Assessments for Year 6 children, for Admission in September 2012

boys

girls

total

% boys

% girls

Total %

Living In area

7008

6827

13835

51%

49%

100%

In area who sat test

3717

3939

7656

53.0%

57.7%

55%

Automatic Pass

1452

1326

2778

20.7%

19.4%

20.1%

Headteacher Assessment

647

847

1494

9.2%

12.4%

10.8%

Headteacher Assessment pass

322

460

782

4.6%

6.7%

5.7%

Total Passes

1774

1786

3560

25.3%

26.1%

25.7%

Out area who sat test

543

545

1058

Automatic Pass

185

172

357

Headteacher Assessment

83

134

217

Headteacher Assessment Pass

41

54

95

Total Out Area Passes

226

226

452

Out of County Tested

1258

1087

2345

Out of County Automatic Pass

698

559

1257

OOC Headteacher Assessment

63

51

114

OOC HTA Pass

24

25

49

Total OOC Passes

722

584

1306

The number of out county chldren successful in the Kent Test is up from the 1156 of 2010, but only a small proportion of these children actually take up places in Kent grammar schools (137 boys and 117 girls offered places in Kent Grammar schools in March 2011 for admission in September).

You will find the data for previous years below but, as I have collected it in more detail for 2012 entry, it is not directly comparable.

Secondary School Transfer 2011 EntryPlease note that all data below is based on the situation on 1st March. There is considerable subsequent movement before the start of the new school year in September.

Kent County Council figures show a pleasing increase in the number of children being offered their first choice secondary school on 1st March, up from 80% in 2010 to 83% in 2011. Just 413 got none of their choices. With nearly 500 fewer Kent children in the system, waiting lists for popular schools were generally much lower this year. However, 66 Kent children who passed the Kent Test and named a grammar school on there application form received none of their preferences. Another 69 such children were offered a place at a non-selective school below the highest placed grammar school on their list (who had presumably put this down as a safety net). KCC in their publicity did not recognise this lattter group as having lost out on a grammar school place although qualified. Last year the eighteen most popular schools each turned away more than 50 children who put them in first place, but this year the same number of schools sees the bar drop to 40 places oversubscribed. Leigh Technology Academy (Dartford) remains Kent’s most popular school for the fourth year running, with 199 disappointed first choice applicants. Second comes Tonbridge Grammar, with 104 girls who had passed the eleven plus turned away. After Westlands (Sittingbourne) on 94, comes Dartford Grammar School with 88, entering the lists for the first time as applicants from the London Boroughs realised the school was accessible, a third of the places going to high scoring applicants from out of county. Next in line was Judd School (grammar, Tonbridge), followed by: Valley Park School (Maidstone); Fulston Manor School (Sittingbourne); Brockhill Park Performing Arts College (Hythe); Brompton Academy (Gillingham); King Ethelbert School (Margate – new entry); and The Thomas Aveling School (Rochester). Then follows Skinner’s School (grammar, Tunbridge Wells ), slipping from its position as most popular grammar school in 2010, and: Folkestone Academy; Dartford Grammar School for Girls; Canterbury High School; Hillview School for Girls (Tonbridge); Bennett Memorial Diocesan School (Tunbridge Wells); and Simon Langton Girls Grammar School (Canterbury – new entry). At the other end of the scale, four Kent schools were over half empty before KCC drafted in additional children who had been offered none of their choices: Skinner’s Kent Academy; Angley School (Cranbrook); Walmer Science College, and New Line Learning Academy (Maidstone). One wonders how some of these schools can continue to function with finances depending on pupil numbers. The school with the greatest increase in popularity was Dartford Grammar School (up 55 disappointed first choices), the biggest loser was surprisingly Homewood School in Tenterden, down 100, but still oversubscribed. The pressure of out of county children taking up places in Kent grammar schools was once again greatest in the North West of the county, with 189 children taking up places in the four Dartford Grammar Schools (52 of these coming from as far away as Lewisham and Greenwich) as opposed to just 57 in the three West Kent super selectives, both figures very similar to last year. Many of these figures will have changed between March and September, as parents had to decide whether to accept places offered, others being offered places off the waiting lists. As many as 700 further children may have gained places through the appeal procedure.

Kent Pupils

2011

2010

2009

2008

No. of pupils

No. of pupils

%

No. of pupils

%

No. of pupils

%

No. of pupils

Offered a school named on the application form

15032

97.33%

15,270

96.1%

15,504

95.5%

15,396

95%

Offered a first preference

12775

82.71%

12,725

80.1%

12,769

78.5%

11,508

70.5%

Offered a second preference

1567

10.15%

1,753

11.0%

1,850

11.5%

2,750

17%

Offered a third preference

533

3.45%

595

3.7%

640

4%

1,138

7%

Offered a fourth preference

157

1.02%

197

1.2%

245

1.5%

N/A

N/A

Allocated by Local Authority

413

2.67

620

3.9%

773

4.5%

840

5.5%

Total number of Kent pupils offered

15445

15,890

16,277

16,236

The 2011 figures include 443 offers made to Kent pupils at out of county secondary schools. The 2010 figures include 481 offers made to Kent pupils at out of county secondary schools.

Year

2011

2010

2009

2008

Out of County Applicants

1671

1,532

1,554

1,795

Out of County Offers

513

532

521

556

Year

2011

2010

2009

2008

Total Numbers of Pupils in the Cohort

17133

17,422

7,831

18,134

Secondary school transfer 2010 entryOn allocation day in March, for 2010, most oversubscribed school in Kent for the third consecutive year was the Leigh Academy in Dartford, turning away 218 first choices. This is followed for non -selective schools by, in order: Valley Park School- 112, Homewood School - 110, North School Ashford - 96, Fulston Manor School - 83, Westlands School - 78, Bennett Memorial Diocesan School and Folkestone Academy - 64, Brockhill Park School - 60, Sandwich Technology College - 57, Mascalls School - 55, Charles Dickens School - 53, and Hayesbrook School - 50. All others are less than 50. Newcomers to the list are: Brockhill Park (up from 17), Sandwich Technology (up from 48), and Hayesbrook (up from 29). Out go: Aylesford (down from 68 to 15), Maplesdon Noakes (55 to27 ), St Simon Stock (53 to 11) and Cornwallis (50 to 30 ) For grammar schools most first choices turned away - Skinners School with 115 (up from 92 but see below); then Judd School- 88 (in top two for past two years); Tonbridge Grammar School - 77 (top last year); Weald of Kent Grammar School - 50; Dartford Grammar School for Girls - 47; Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Girls - 39; Maidstone Grammar School - 36; Dartford Grammar School - 35; Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SChool - 34; Simon Langton Grammmar School for Boys - 34; Sir Roger Manwoods School - 33; and Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys 32. All others had fewer than 30. The caution with regard to Skinners is that many parents put them second to Judd and this year in particular the figures are skewed with Skinners offering places to 73 first choices, 39 second choices and 3 third choices (St Olave's is often the third school in this triangle)). Over at Judd there were 120 first choices and 2 second choices offered places so I would argue that Judd is the more oversubscribed – the vagaries of the system!

The Judd School has offered 16 places off the waiting list on 31st March. Clearly this will have a corresponding knock on figure for The Skinners School who initially offered 6 further places. Also of note are Longfield Academy up 72 first preferences from 64 to 136 (turning away 22 of these), Oakwood Park Grammar School up 54 (turning away 15 of these) , Chaucer Technology College up 45, Swan Valley Community School up 43. For all the above schools, waiting lists and appeals will see numbers of the children turned away eventually offered places at their first choice school.

There were just 5 Medway schools with vacancies before Medway Council reallocated children who had been given none of their choices. After reallocation, Bishop of Rochester Academy and St John Fisher RC were full, whilst Hundred of Hoo, Chatham Grammar Boys and Chatham Grammar Girls still have spare places. 151 places were taken up by Kent children nearly every school accepting some; with 116 Medway children going the other way into Kent - nearly half of these to Holmesdale. 68 out of the 298 children entered for Medway Reviews were successful.

The following grammar schools each had more than ten vacancies on March 1st: Borden, Clarendon House, Dover Grammar Boys, Folkestone Girls, Harvey, Highworth (heavily oversubscribed with first choices last year!), Invicta. The following grammar schools have four or fewer vacancies (none between four and ten!): Gravesend Boys (heavily oversubscribed with first choices last year!), Gravesend Girls, Wilmington Boys, Wilmington Girls. All other Kent grammar schools were full on National Offer Day.

Non selective schools full that had vacancies last year: Castle Community, Longfield Academy.

Please note that even though a school is full according to the Planned Admission Number, appeals can and will be successful in some cases. An Independent Appeal Panel has the right to instruct schools to take additional children. Last year the number of successful appeals at oversubscribed schools in Kent ranged from nil to 38. Further, where a grammar school has vacancies, the appeal panel is under no obligation to fill these and won't if there are insufficient children of a 'grammar school standard'.

Five Kent schools had over half their places empty before the Local Authority allocated children, who had not been offered any of their choices, to them.

Secondary School Appeal Statistics for 2010 entryI do not publish statistics for individual school appeals, as these are determined by Appeal Panels, not by the schools themselves and so can vary enormously year by year.

Type of Appeal

Number

Successes

% success rate

Community Non Selective Schools

88

45

51

Community Grammar Schools

336

128

40

Foundation & VA Non Sel Schools, organised by KCC

425

247

58

Foundation & VA Grammar Schools, organised by KCC

543

174

32

Foundation & VA Non Sel Schools, appeals not organised by KCC

30

27

75

Foundation & VA Grammar Schools, not organised by KCC

362

135

37

Academies

91

29

22

Total

1696

612

36

Please note:1) Appeals are only heard for places at grammar schools or non selective schools that are oversubscribed. Grammar school appelas can be against a decision that the child is not of grammar school ability, that the school is full, or both.

2) the Foundation and VA Non Selective Appeal figures are distorted by 4 schools whose combined 132 appeals were all successful. 3) The Academy figures is distorted by the Leigh Academy's 65 appeals. 4) Appeals not organised by KCC are managed by a number of different providers

11 Plus Test Results 2011 EntryThe source of the data on this page is Kent County Council. My thanks for their co-operation in this.

Category

2009 entry

2010 entry

2011 entry

change

Number

Number

Number

Kent Entrants

9249

9418

-101

OutCounty Entrants

1992

2107

+115

Success Boys

2588

2561

-27

Success Girls

2549

2552

+3

Success Kent

4039

4120

4149

+81

OutCounty Success

1098

993

1156

-105

So, of the 11,255 children who sat the Kent Test in September, 5,113 were assessed selective, roughly the same number as last year (11,241). The number of out of county children sitting the test rose by 115, the number of Kent children fell by 101 reflecting a lower number in the age group. However, the number of Kent children passing is up by 81 to 4,120, whilst the number of out county children passing is down by 105 to 993.

There are 4,458 grammar school places in Kent, so if only Kent children were taking them up, there would be 338 spare places, nearly all in the East of the County. The great unknown is how many out of county children will take up Kent places, as many of them have multiple applications across different counties and Boroughs.

My sense of these figures is - little change.

I have now obtained information on the distribution of successful out of Kent 11 plus candidates, and this shows a remarkable shift in pattern. The number of successful candidates in East Sussex and Surrey is just 40, only 6 higher than the total that were offered places at Judd, Skinners or Tonbridge Grammar last year. As these schools only take high scorers, many of the ooc children will not be eligible and others will not apply for places. With the lower cohort size in West Kent this really promises to make life easier for many grammar school applicants in 2011. I am unable to suggest a reason why this reduction has happened, except the possibility that recent publicity has convinced some it is too difficult to gain entrance to these schools.

Another 302 ooc qualified ooc children come from other London Boroughs astride the rail mainline to Dartford, with 31 from Thurrock. We can assume that all those who are looking to Kent grammar schools realistically, and some will just have taken the test for practice, are looking to the two Wilmington and the two Dartford grammar schools, although the different oversubscription criteria for each afffects the number that will be admitted in the end. To these, there needs to be added a further 130 Medway children, although many, if not most, of these have taken the Kent Test as a reserve to Medway grammar school places. Those looking seriously into Kent will be considering grammar schools in Gravesend, Maidstone or Sittingbourne, although the former are likely to come under additional pressure again from the out of county surge, as happened in 2009.

2010 Admissions

For 2010, Most oversubscribed school in Kent for the third consecutive year was the Leigh Academy in Dartford, turning away 218 first choices. This is followed for non -selective schools by, in order: Valley Park School- 112, Homewood School - 110, North School Ashford - 96, Fulston Manor School - 83, Westlands School - 78, Bennett Memorial Diocesan School and Folkestone Academy - 64, Brockhill Park School - 60, Sandwich Technology College - 57, Mascalls School - 55, Charles Dickens School - 53, and Hayesbrook School - 50. All others are less than 50. Newcomers to the list are: Brockhill Park (up from 17), Sandwich Technology (up from 48), and Hayesbrook (up from 29). Out go: Aylesford (down from 68 to 15), Maplesdon Noakes (55 to27 ), St Simon Stock (53 to 11) and Cornwallis (50 to 30 ) For grammar schools most first choices turned away - Skinners School with 115 (up from 92 but see below); then Judd School- 88 (in top two for past two years); Tonbridge Grammar School - 77 (top last year); Weald of Kent Grammar School - 50; Dartford Grammar School for Girls - 47; Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Girls - 39; Maidstone Grammar School - 36; Dartford Grammar School - 35; Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SChool - 34; Simon Langton Grammmar School for Boys - 34; Sir Roger Manwoods School - 33; and Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys 32. All others had fewer than 30. The caution with regard to Skinners is that many parents put them second to Judd and this year in particular the figures are skewed with Skinners offering places to 73 first choices, 39 second choices and 3 third choices (St Olave's is often the third school in this triangle)). Over at Judd there were 120 first choices and 2 second choices offered places so I would argue that Judd is the more oversubscribed – the vagaries of the system!

The Judd School has offered 16 places off the waiting list on 31st March. Clearly this will have a corresponding knock on figure for The Skinners School who initially offered 6 further places.

Also of note are Longfield Academy up 72 first preferences from 64 to 136 (turning away 22 of these), Oakwood Park Grammar School up 54 (turning away 15 of these) , Chaucer Technology College up 45, Swan Valley Community School up 43.

For all the above schools, waiting lists and appeals will see numbers of the children turned away eventually offered places at their first choice school.

There were just 5 Medway schools with vacancies before Medway Council reallocated children who had been given none of their choices. After reallocation, Bishop of Rochester Academy and St John Fisher RC were full, whilst Hundred of Hoo, Chatham Grammar Boys and Chatham Grammar Girls still have spare places. 151 places were taken up by Kent children nearly every school accepting some; with 116 Medway children going the other way into Kent - nearly half of these to Holmesdale. 68 out of the 298 children entered for Medway Reviews were successful.

The following grammar schools each had more than ten vacancies on March 1st: Borden, Clarendon House, Dover Grammar Boys, Folkestone Girls, Harvey, Highworth (heavily oversubscribed with first choices last year!), Invicta. The following grammar schools have four or fewer vacancies (none between four and ten!): Gravesend Boys (heavily oversubscribed with first choices last year!), Gravesend Girls, Wilmington Boys, Wilmington Girls. All other Kent grammar schools were full on National Offer Day.

Non selective schools full that had vacancies last year: Castle Community, Longfield Academy.

Please note that even though a school is full according to the Planned Admission Number, appeals can and will be successful in some cases. An Independent Appeal Panel has the right to instruct schools to take additional children. Last year the number of successful appeals at oversubscribed schools in Kent ranged from nil to 38. Further, where a grammar school has vacancies, the appeal panel is under no obligation to fill these and won't if there are insufficient children of a 'grammar school standard'.

Five Kent schools had over half their places empty before the Local Authority allocated children, who had not been offered any of their choices, to them.

Secondary school transfer statistics 2010 entry

Kent Pupils

2010

2009

2008

No. of pupils

No. of pupils

%

No. of pupils

%

No. of pupils

Offered a school named on the application form

15,270

96.1%

15,504

95.5%

15,396

95%

Offered a first preference

12,725

80.1%

12,769

78.5%

11,508

70.5%

Offered a second preference

1,753

11.0%

1,850

11.5%

2,750

17%

Offered a third preference

595

3.7%

640

4%

1,138

7%

Offered a fourth preference

197

1.2%

245

1.5%

N/A

N/A

Allocated by Local Authority

620

3.9%

773

4.5%

840

5.5%

Total number of Kent pupils offered

15,890

16,277

16,236

Year

2010

2009

2008

Out of County Applicants

1,532

1,554

1,795

Out of County Offers

532

521

556

Year

2010

2009

2008

Total Numbers of Pupils in the Cohort

17,422

17,831

18,134

Transfer Appeal Statistics 2009

LEA or Community Schools

School Type

Number of Appeals

Number of Successes

% Success Rate

Grammar

391

167

43

Non Selective

158

99

63

Primary

367

36

10

Please note that the large majority of successful primary appeals would be for junior classes, as Infant appeals are governed by Infant Class Legislation (see Primary admissions page).

Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools

School Type

Number of Appeals

Number of Successes

% Success Rate

Grammar

562

201

36

Non Selective

215

104

48

Primary

82

Not known

In addition there are a number of schools that do not use KCC Appeal Panels. Statistics are not available for these.

Statistics vary enormously school by school. For grammar schools the proportion of successes range from 76% of 33 appeals (an LEA school) down to 7% of 108 appeals (a Foundation School). For non selective schools, there were five schools where all appeals were successful, but one Foundation school with just 10% of 20 appeals successful.

Secondary Transfer Statistics 2009 entry

There was a total of just 131 vacancies in Kent’s 33 grammar schools, at National Offer Day in 2009 mainly in the east of the county. The problem is that the 268 out county children who took up places in West and North West Kent Grammar schools displaced many children from these areas eastwards, some to grammar schools they cannot reach daily, with more than 40 boys West Kent boys offered places in Folkestone or Sittingbourne.

The biggest influx is into the four Dartford grammar schools with 29 children coming from Greenwich and another 15 from Lewisham. Bromley took up 59 Kent grammar school places, Bexley another 56 and East Sussex 50.

Most oversubscribed grammar school was Tonbridge (101 turned away), edging out Judd from last year (95). These were followed by Skinners, Dartford, Weald of Kent, Tunbridge Wells Boys, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells Girls. This year’s problem is highlighted by these eight schools who all turned away more than 40 qualified first choices. Last year there were just three, the same top schools as last year.

However, for the second year running the most oversubscribed school in the county is the Leigh Academy in Dartford, rejecting 200 first choice applicants.

One striking feature of non selective school placements is the wide fluctuation in popularity from year to year. I think the biggest controversy in the county surrounds Valley Park School in South Maidstone, whose popularity has soared this year, turning away 106 first choices, up from 16 in 2008. Other non selective schools rejecting more than 60 first choices are: Folkestone Academy (newly rebuilt); Homewood (Tenterden); Bennett Memorial (Tunbridge Wells); Westlands (Sittingbourne), Charles Dickens (Broadstairs), North (Ashford), Archbishops’ (Canterbury); Aylesford (rebuilt under PFI and not even full last year); Mascalls (Paddock Wood) and Fulston Manor (Sittingbourne). Only half these schools were in this list last year showing how difficult it is to predict popularity.

At the other end of the scale, four schools were over half empty before children unsuccessful in any of their applications were allocated to them..

Secondary Transfer Appeal Statistics 2008

LEA or Community Schools

School type

Number of Appeals

Number of successes

% success rate

Grammar

456

184

40

Non Selective

126

68

54

Foundation or Voluntary Aided Schools

These are appeals organised by the KCC for these schools. Many Foundation and VA Schools organise their own appeals and I do not have data for these.

School Type

Number of Appeals

Number of successes

% success rate

Grammar

540

143

26

Non-Selective

185

101

55

Note: these statistics hide a multitude of sins. One LEA Grammar school had 55 successful appeals, others have very few. Grammar School appeals include both selection appeals (where the child do not pass the Kent test, and oversubscription appeals (where many appellants may have passed the Kent tests and be seeking a place in schools that are full).